[Tip] Moving ESO from [SCSI/SATA] HDD to [SSD] HDD

seerevaloc

Hi folks,

I've got my Steam Library on 1TB SATA drive [D:\] but wanted to move ESO to SSD drive [C:\] actually.

1. Quit the game, close Launcher, exit Steam
2. I've created the same pathway in [C:\]Steam Library\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online\
3. Then moved [D:\]Steam\steamapps\Zenimax Online\The Elder Scrolls Online\depot to under same path-line created on [C:\] drive.
4. Also moved voice_en folder under the corresponding directory in [C:\]
5. Then created Junction link from [C:\] to [D:\] under the same folder. Note that this isn't a traditional shortcut. It's a SymLink.
6. Started Steam, started ESO and Game just worked very fine; I have never seen my FPS over 60 before, and now I'm rarely dropping under 80 FPS. It's usually 90-100.
7. So game loads 80-90GB of data from SSD now. Also, loading screens got just better.

More info:
https://superuser.com/questions/1020821/how-to-create-a-symbolic-link-on-windows-10

I just wanted to share my experience. Because Steam doesn't allow moving this game from [D:\] to [C:\] under in-Steam settings.

wrecklass

Yes, moving a game to SSD certainly can be a big improvement in load times.

I don't see how on earth it could have changed FPS, however. Once the data is loaded, the render times would be the same. Unless you upgraded Video Card.

seerevaloc

wrecklass wrote: »

Yes, moving a game to SSD certainly can be a big improvement in load times.

I don't see how on earth it could have changed FPS, however. Once the data is loaded, the render times would be the same. Unless you upgraded Video Card.

"Once data is loaded" .. yes you're right. You're roaming around with Loaded Data is just good from both HDDs. Rendering is GPU issue, not HDD/CPU. But the game isn't loading just whole Deshaan, or Sunspire into your RAM. As you move, it dynamically loads/unloads particular zones you're moving across and when you're on constant movement, this reduces your overall performance. SSD loads stuff quicker by far, so this lets you feel that clunky moments lesser.

Aside from it; "initiating combat" also was dropping FPS for a few seconds. This also fixed after moving files. Playing from SSD since Nov29, 2019. I can say yes, my ESO experience got really better.